


Human

by Starofwinter



Series: How to Make Boys Next Door Out of Assholes [8]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ableism, Confessions, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Verbal Humiliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 05:55:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14302269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: “Aayla… do you think I’m not really human?” he asks quietly, his head down, looking at the seams on his blacks rather than at her.





	Human

**Author's Note:**

> Quinlan Vos disliked clones in the Legends comics, and the comments on mechno-limbs comes from one of the visual dictionaries.

Aayla knows something is wrong as soon as she sees Anomaly, but he just smiles and shrugs off her concern and her gentle hand on his shoulder.  He avoids her all evening, especially any touch on his metal arm or shoulder - she knows he has days when he likes it less than others, so she avoids it too.  Still, it hurts a little when he flinches away from her touch to his back; normally, he leans into it, like he’s still starved for any affection. 

He doesn’t say anything to her until they’re sitting alone in her quarters, Anomaly with his arms wrapped around his knees and his back to the wall as he sits on the floor.  It’s just another sign that something happened; usually, he’s perched on her desk or sprawled out on her bunk. “Aayla… do you think I’m not really human?” he asks quietly, his head down, looking at the seams on his blacks rather than at her.

Cold horror runs through her veins and settles in her gut.  “ _ Of course  _ you’re human, keella, why would you ever think otherwise?”  

He just curls in on himself further.  “I know the Jedi don’t- they don’t really think that anyone who has prosthetics is fully human…  I just… I want to know if you think that too.”

“No, Anomaly, I don’t think that.  I could  _ never _ think you’re less than human.  Would you come here?” She forces her tone to stay even and calm.  Anomaly hesitates for a heartbreaking moment before he picks himself up, climbing onto the bed with Aayla and curling into her side.  His fingers wrap around his metal shoulder, his nails digging in until she gently takes his hand, holding it in both of her own. “You are absolutely human, keella, every part of you.  Needing a limb replaced, that doesn’t make you any less human, or any weaker, than anyone else. That belief is very old and cruel and outdated, and anyone with an ounce of the compassion the Order ought to have knows it.”

Anomaly just shakes his head, burying his face in her shoulder.  “How’d you end up so good?” he asks, his voice muffled.

Aayla just smiles and runs her fingers through his hair.  She doesn’t respond to that, just asks, “Anomaly, who told you about that?”  She’s afraid to hear the answer, but she needs to know who would say something so cruel.

He doesn’t say anything for a long moment.  “It’s okay, it’s… it doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me,” she says gently, “You aren’t in trouble, I promise.”

It’s another minute or so before he says, barely audible, “It was General Vos.”

“Quinlan?”  Her eyes go wide - that would explain… well, an unfortunate amount, really.  For all that her Master is something of a wildcard, at the end of the day, he is  _ fanatically _ a Jedi; he’s always been a stickler for the fundamental beliefs, if not the practices of the Order.  “My master believes a lot of things that haven’t been in favor in a very long time. It’s one of the things we always fought about.  Anomaly, I’m so sorry he told you that, he had  _ no right _ to.”

Anomaly just shrugs a shoulder.  “He said clones weren’t really human because we were created in a lab, and- I have a  _ droid _ arm.  Wanted to tell him it’s my kriffing arm, not a droid’s, but he’s a general, you know?  Can’t backtalk an officer, not if I don’t want to end up in the cadet chow next week.” His laugh is dry and humorless, and Aayla holds him a little tighter.  

“I’m going to talk with him - he has no right to speak to you, or any of your brothers, that way.”

Anomaly shakes his head quickly, pulling away to look at Aayla.  “It’s okay,  _ really _ .  I’ve heard worse, it’s fine, I don’t want you getting into trouble for- anything,” he says, and she finishes it herself - he doesn’t want her getting in trouble for  _ someone like him. _  She feels sick at the thought, and makes a note to talk to Bly about helping Anomaly work on his self-deprecation again.  Obviously, Quinlan’s words aren’t going to help.

“I won’t get into trouble, we’ve argued about this before.”  In endless repetitions of the same words, but this time, it’s painfully personal.  Aayla gently folds her arms around him, rubbing Anomaly’s back. “It isn’t right, and I can’t sit by and let him say such cruel things about anyone, but especially not the people I love.  I  _ won’t _ sit by and let him say it.”

“Fuck, I don’t deserve you,” Anomaly whispers, and she shakes her head.

“You do.  You absolutely do, keella, and I’m going to keep telling you that,” she says, cupping his cheeks in her hands to kiss his forehead, “As many times as you need to hear it.”

Finally, he smiles, and as weak and watery as it is, it’s the most beautiful thing Aayla has ever seen.

**Author's Note:**

> I may write part two, with Quinlan getting the ass-chewing of a lifetime.


End file.
